CONVENTIONS OF A ALBUM RELEASE ADVERT

In class we discussed the conventions of an album advert:
-Genre specific (the advert should adhere to the genre of the artist and the music)
-Image of the album cover
-Image of the artist
-Reviews/ endorsements
-Ratings
-Album name
-Price
-Release date
-Debut album
-Unseen features
-Slogan
-Record label
-Tour Dates
-Outlets available (websites)
-limited edition
-Offers (free downloads etc)
-

ALBUM ANNOTATIONS

A few examples of different album release adverts

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ALBUM ADVERTS

Selection of albums on sale in nme magazine

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ALBUM RELEASE ADVERT - KERRANG

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NEW ALBUM RELEASES

The new album release for, screamadelica, has been advertised on the cover of music magazine NME. The subtitle for the advert "It was Sexy, It was druggy and it was underground" talks about their recent performance of their concert.Therefore the advert is advertising two events and products, the release of the album played at the concert and the concert itself. The Advert is particularly audience and genre specific, "on of the druggiest albums ever" adhering to the trance genre and therefore appealing to a select group. Artists from a similar genre are also mentioned, therefore attracting new listeners who might have listened to other artists.

The colour scheme and layout for the magazine cover is similar to that of the album, showing NME's support behind it's release. The album cover itself depicts a childish drawing of a sun, this can present a carefree attitude within their music and also a basic and primary level, similar to the title Primal Scream. The name Screamadelica reflects the psychedelic genre, possibly a new style for the band which their album is pointing out to the target audience and listener.

The lead singer is holding the album, which has no sight of the name itself or the name of the band, this gives the album identity and promotes it to audiences and NME readership.

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NEW ALBUM RELEASE COMMERCIALS

Here is a short Youtube video advertising the release of Lady Antebellum's new album Need You Now. The advert emphasizes the success of songs on the album, such as 'the new hit single' etc and focuses on the new promotional track (for us this would be the dog days are over).

...AND ON TV

Whilst watching this weeks 'Tool Academy' i noticed they used the Dog Days are Over as the backing song for part of the show, this part was a challenging hike. I feel that this helps further prove the meaning of the song to be overcoming difficult situations and times in your life!

Also, only the instrumental aspect of the song was used, not the words or lyrics. This proves just how well known the song is and the strength of the meaning behind it as the meaning can still be understood without the lyrics!

DOG DAYS IN FILMS!

I just found out today after watching an advert on TV that our song, 'The Dog Days are Over' by Florence and the Machine is being used as part of the soundtrack for a new film coming out 'Eat, Pray, Love' the summary is as follows:

"A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to "find herself".

I really like the way that the song is being used for a film, firstly involving a relationship and a big change in somebody's life and how they move on form those 'Dog Days' similar to the way in which we interpret 'Dog days are over'!

DIGIPACK ALBUM COVER RESEARCH

1.

This particular album cover stands out to me, from a consumer point of view, as it is plain and simplistic. To me the lack of colour, 'eye-caching' displays and clever images presents the band to be steering away from the typical pop culture and give the impression of their album 'The Wall' to be more about the music than publicity and attracting consumers.

2.

Rolling Stones album 'Exile on main Street' has used the opposing black and white background images to contrast with and therefore bring focus to the title. However, with the detailed photographic background design the text is harder to decipher, the consumer would therefore have to pick up the album and study it closely to read it. (A good marketing technique)

3.

Ryan Adams album 'Gold' strikes me as

interesting as there is no title or text on the cover, therefore it does not connote to typical marketing of the album as it doesn't try to advertise the artist. Again this could be a "all about the music" approach or simply another technique to encourage consumers to study the album more closely, possibly to turn to the back and see the track list etc.

NARRATIVE THEORY

NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS

When analysing narrative and decoding to find meaning our audience will study the narrative of our music video examining conventions of:

• Genre (Indie pop/rock)
• Character (Oppressed female striking back)
• Form
• Time

our audience will use knowledge of these conventions to help them interpret and understand our media product.

Theorists who try to reconstruct narrative:

• Tvzetan Todorov - suggests narrative is simply equilibrium (relationship), disequilibrium (abusive relationship), new equilibrium (better alone than in abusive relationship)
• Claude Levi-Strauss - constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness, colourful/bland & urban/natural) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack. Binary oppositions.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Questionnaire

COSTUMES CONTINUED

For the second character (George) we felt that as his role was very minor he would just wear modern and casual clothes, possibly jeans or joggers and a t-shirt or jumper. The colours will be dark as well to represent his negative personality and character. However, we could include a red t-shirt or top to represent his angry nature, although we do not want to take focus away from the artist.

COSTUME

As we will start our filming in a few weeks we have decided to start seriously thinking about the costumes of the characters.

There are 2 characters in the video:

The lead protagonist/ Artist (Me)

Her Ex (who has a small role in the video, played by George)

As there are 2 different Locations, two costumes are required. The first location, where the majority of the video will be shot, is the roof tops. As this part of the video will represent a negative time in the artists life we feel her costume should reflect this alongside the band image and genre. We felt that the clothes I wore when we did some practise filming were effective and so decided to use them for part of the first costume (above, left and below) A leather jacket was effective as it presented the modern element of our band image, also incorporating the genre, which is

Alternative Rock, it also depicts the more gritty element of the video, connotations of a dark leather jacket can adhere to the rougher and darker image we are trying to create. We also wanted to keep the idea of using black leggings as the colour provided further representation of our dark and negative image, whilst the holes and patches can represent how the artists life is falling

apart.

Further more

if you look at the image on the right we feel that the darker colours really fits in with the urban background and setting that we are using in the video.

However, we will not have Ugg boots as part of the costume in the real video, instead we are considering using mini boots, preferably dark brown or black leather, these will firstly fit well with the image we are trying to create (the leather conforming to rock stereotypes) and as we found when filming, it is very difficult to run fast in Uggs and so some proper shoes or boots are required for the running footage to look effective. We decided as a group that we would not spend extra money on the element of the video as we have to make and buy the second costume for the performance location.

MEDIA TRIP TO LONDON

As a class we travelled up to London, Shepard's Bush, to visit a small studio and listen to a talk and presentation about the music video industry and creating our videos. We took a camera with us to film some of the events that took place!

HYPODERMIC-SYRINGE MODEL

Hypodermic-syringe model or "Magic Bullet" perspective
This model is rooted in the 1930's and today is considered obsolete and has been replaced by newer and more up to date theories.
The hypodermic-syringe model implied that the mass media (newspapers, films, music e.t.c) has a direct, powerful and instant impact on audiences the model describes it as becoming 'injected' with information through a medium. For example a person who uses the medium of tv to watch violent films would eventually become desensitised and their opinions and views on the topic changed through the medium.

'DOG DAYS ARE OVER' - LYRICS

Happiness hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her stuck still no turning back
She hid around corners and she hid under beds
She killed it with kisses and from it she fled
With every bubble she sank with her drink
And washed it away down the kitchen sink


The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father
Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind
You cant carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
Because here they come

And I never wanted anything from you
Except everything you had and what was left after that too, oh
Happiness hit her like a bullet in the head
Struck from a great height by someone who should know better than that

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
Because here they come

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father
Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your loving, your loving behind
You cant carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
Because here they come

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run

BAND NAME MIND MAP

Here is a mind map of some ideas and themes we want our band name to reflect:

Band Name Mind Map

DOG DAYS ARE OVER: NEW IDEA

After a significant group meeting , we decided that the song, stone cold sober, was not ideal for our music video. We listened to the lyrics more closely and deciding that it would be difficult to lip sync to. We also researched int the making of the video it self, being really flamboyant and extravagant it cost a lot to produce. We also figured it would be difficult to lip sync to as the artist as a slight lisp.

Therefore..

We changed our idea and had a complete 'remodel' of our plan and video. Our chosen song is Dogs Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine

We have decided to produce a performance/ narrative video, filming in two locations. The performance side of which will be set in a wide natural open space and will juxtapose with the narrative being set in typically urban settings. The theme of the video will be getting over hard times and moving on with your life.

We all feel really positive about our new idea and there are many more details in our treatment!

BAND NAME

I have researched into a number of different band names,

some of the most famous singers and musicians are only known by one 'stage name', for example:

SLASH

CHER

IGGY POP

However there are some bands which name the group together as a whole, despite there being a clear lead singer, some examples of these are:

KISS

FALL OUT BOY

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

THE KILLERS

GUNS AND ROSES

THE SEX PISTOLS

POISON

AEROSMITH

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

In our 'band' there is a lead singer, and possible other musicians, but they do not contribute to the song as much. therefore we could steer towards a name that puts our lead above the others, such as:

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE

MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS

WORDLE

This is a wordle presenting all the ideas and themes that we could want our music video to be associated with once it is completed. It also helps us to plan our video and visualise our ideas as a whole.